ABSTRACT

This chapter examines Christos Yannaras’s reception and creative appropriation of the tradition associated with the term ‘tropos’ or ‘mode’, as it is commonly translated, which figures prominently in the theological schemes of some of the foremost figures from Byzantine Christianity. In addition to an examination of Yannaras’s idiosyncratic use of the term, it seeks to draw parallels between his thought and the rather eclectic group of thinkers who inspire his approach, which includes, but is not limited to, the Cappadocians, Maximos the Confessor, and Martin Heidegger. Though not aspiring to offer a comprehensive genealogy that lies behind Yannaras’s use of tropos, the chapter nevertheless explores and elucidates a selection of paradigms that appear to inspire his synthesis, reviewing in particular Maximos the Confessor’s logos-tropos dichotomy and his identification of ‘mode’ with energeia. Finally, the chapter addresses the objections to the ‘existentialist’ disposition of Yannaras’s thought and strives to answer the criticism of the Greek philosopher’s tendency to give ‘person’ priority over ‘nature’.